Go Daddy, the world’s largest registrar, has entered into a partnership with a trio of private equity firms in a deal that values the company at $ 2.25 billion. The purchase by KKR & Co., Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures includes assumption of the company’s debt according to an announcement on Friday afternoon US time and will see Bob Parsons, founder and chief executive officer, keeping a minority stake in the company. “What these guys see is a company with a lot more potential internationally and more potential to make partnerships and acquisitions,” Bob Parsons, the company’s chief executive and founder, said. “They’ll help us finance and they’ll help us recruit talent.” KKR, Silver Lake and TCV are aiming to benefit from growth of the Internet, using Go Daddy’s predictable revenue stream and 9.3 million global customers from 48 million domain names to expand and pay down debt taken on to finance the transactions. “I’ve always said we would make a move like this when the right deal with the right partners could help us do the right thing for our customers and our employees,” said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “This is it! We are partnering with KKR, Silver Lake and TCV because of their technology expertise, their understanding of Web based businesses and because their values align with ours. We believe, together, we will take the company to the next level, especially when it comes to accelerating international growth.” “We’re just at the beginning of the Internet in terms of all the additional services a registry can sell to companies,” said Lou Kerner, managing director of the private-shares group at Wedbush Securities Inc. in New York, before the announcement. “Go Daddy is powerfully positioned for future growth as it continues to innovate and add to its truly unique platform of cloud-based software and services, said Greg Mondre, Managing Director, of Silver Lake. “At the same time, we plan to maintain and augment all of the attributes that have made Go Daddy a clear market leader today, including world class customer support and competitive pricing for its 9.3 million customers.” Go Daddy is growing rapidly, not just in domain names but also web hosting and SSL certificates, with sales growing by 25 per cent to $947 million from 2009 to 2010, and the company projects its figure for 2011 to be $1.1 billion. “In Go Daddy, we are pleased to be partnering with a high-growth market leader and an outstanding team,” said Herald Chen, head of KKR’s software and Internet effort. “Building on Go Daddy’s exceptional customer service and loyal customer base, we believe there is significant opportunity to expand the current portfolio of products and services as well as accelerate growth internationally.”
